Upper Moreland High School Photo by James Short.
The Upper Moreland Police Department has announced the arrest of Upper Moreland High School Co-Curricular employee Douglas Penglase, 37, of Hatboro, who was charged federally with distribution of child pornography.
"The Upper Moreland School District is cooperating fully with law enforcement," said Dr. Sue Elliott, Superintendent of Schools. "Pending the disposition of this matter. Mr. Penglase is no longer an employee. The families involved in the affected activities will be notified of plans for his replacement."
On May 27, 2024, the social media platform Kik reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that one of its users was transmitting files depicting child pornography (Child Sex Abuse Material or CSAM). NCMEC flagged 50 files as CSAM, specifically, depictions of prepubescent female minor children between the approximate ages of 8-12 years engaged in sexual activities with adults.
The contents of the Kik account were obtained by law enforcement via a search warrant, and review of the contents revealed almost 300 files containing CSAM. The search warrant return also included more than 1,100 messages between that target and other Kik users.
The criminal complaint alleges that the defendant was one of the other users involved in chatting about, and trading, CSAM, with the original Kik user and the defendant distributing nine CSAM videos each.
The complaint further alleges that law enforcement also obtained the contents of the Kik account belonging to the defendant. A review of the account revealed approximately 780 files containing CSAM.
If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.
Penglase became a Co-Curricular employee in September 2020. He had no prior record that would have precluded his hiring, according to the school district.
The Upper Moreland School District indicated that it is not aware of any inappropriate interactions between Penglase and UMSD students or improper use of District network resources. Additionally, the District had not received any complaints or concerns from students or staff regarding his conduct.
"While we understand that this is an ongoing investigation, the District is not aware of any inappropriate interactions between Mr. Penglase and UMSD students or improper use of District network resources," Elliott said.
UMSD is asking if any students, staff or families have any information regarding the allegations against Penglase, to share it with law enforcement by contacting the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Philadelphia victim services tipline at 215-606-5549.
Counselors at Upper Moreland High School will be available to students and staff who need support in light of this disturbing news.
This arrest was the first notification the District had regarding this alleged behavior.
UMSD said that it has no further comment on this matter, given the ongoing federal investigation.
For any additional information, contact HSI Public Affairs Officer Jason Koontz at [email protected].
